Quilliam is a London-based left-of-center[1] think tank that focuses on counter-extremism, specifically against Islamism, which it argues represents a desire to impose a given interpretation of Islam on society. Founded as The Quilliam Foundation, it lobbies government and public institutions for more nuanced policies regarding Islam and on the need for greater democracy in the Muslim world whilst empowering moderate Muslim voices.

According to one of its co-founders, Maajid Nawaz, “We wish to raise awareness around Islamism”;[2]
he also said, “I want to demonstrate how the Islamist ideology is
incompatible with Islam. Secondly … develop a Western Islam that is at
home in Britain and in Europe … reverse radicalisation by taking on their arguments and countering them.”[3]

The organisation opposes any Islamist ideology and champions freedom of expression. The critique of Islamist ideology by its founders, Maajid Nawaz, Rashad Zaman Ali and Ed Husain, is based, in part, on their personal experiences.[4]

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Quilliam was established in 2007 by Ed Husain, Maajid Nawaz and Rashad Zaman Ali, three former members of the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir. [!!!!!] Husain left in 2011 to join the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.[5]

The organisation was named after William Quilliam,[6] a controversial [!!!!!] 19th-century British convert to Islam [!!!!!] who founded Britain’s first mosque. He argued for a global Caliphate[7] [!!!!!] and swore allegiance to the Ottoman Empire.[8] [!!!!!] The organisation was originally called The Quilliam Foundation, but later rebranded as simply Quilliam.[9]

Quilliam supports the right of women to wear the hijab and the right of women to take it off. In a commentary in The Sun,Maajid Nawaz stated: “If Muslims object to the French ban on the hijab,
we must also object to the ‘Islamist’ plan to impose the hijab and ban women uncovering their hair.” [19] Quilliam has also defended the right of women to wear the full-face veil [!!!!!], in the form of the niqab or the burqa.[20]

Leaked report on the UK government’s “Prevent” strategy

On 14 June 2010, a strategic briefing paper with a covering letter signed by Maajid Nawaz and Ed Hussain was sent to Charles Farr, director of the Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism
(OSCT). The briefing paper was intended to be a confidential review of the UK government’s anti-terrorism “Prevent” strategy following the 7 July 2005 London bombings, and was “particularly critical of the view that government partnerships with non-violent yet otherwise extreme Islamists were the best way to fend off Jihadism”.[21] Although sent “by hard copy alone” with no electronic version,[21] both letter and briefing paper were leaked by being scanned and published on the internet,[22] provoking protests from various groups which had been identified in the Quilliam briefing as sympathetic or supportive of Islamist extremism.[23] [!!!!!]

According to the briefing document, “The ideology of non-violent Islamists is broadly the same as that of violent Islamists; they disagree only on tactics.”[23][24] [!!!!!]

Quilliam’s report claimed that a unit within Scotland Yard called the Muslim Contact Unit,[23] and a separate independent group called the Muslim Safety Forum,[23] intended to improve the relationship between the police and the Muslim community, were respectively “Islamist-dominated”[25] and “associated with Jamaat e-Islami”.[26] Other organisations listed by the Quilliam report included the Muslim Council of Britain[23] and its rival the Muslim Association of Britain,[24] both said to be “associated with the Muslim brotherhood”.[27] Also said to have Islamist sympathies or to be associated with Islamist groups were the Islamic Human Rights Commission,[23][24] the Federation of Student Islamic Societies,[24] the Cordoba Foundation,[24] and the Islam Channel.[23]

The report said of these organisations: “These are a selection of thevarious groups and institutions active in the UK which are broadly sympathetic to Islamism. Whilst only a small proportion will agree with al-Qaida’s tactics, many will agree with their overall goal of creating a single ‘Islamic state’ which would bring together all Muslims around the world under a single government and then impose on them a single interpretation of sharia as state law.”[23][24] [!!!!!]